Worlds Unknown
by AzraKhadir
Summary: The world had changed. People had not. Yuusuke wanted to believe he had found peace. But when a familiar face comes to him for help, he finds himself caught in the turmoil of three worlds colliding. Set after the end of the manga.
1. By a thread : part one

**CHAPTER ONE : BY A THREAD**

**PART ONE**

_Hello readers ! So this is my take on the continued adventures of Yuusuke and the gang. This fic is made of multiple arcs and takes place after the end of the manga. I'll try to expand on the ideas of the original manga while keeping in with the spirit of the world and its characters._

_Please note : while there is no outright NC-17 content, this fic still deals with pretty difficult themes, among which mental illness and abuse, and combines horror elements with the adventure/mystery main genres. Chapters will have individual trigger warnings if necessary._

_Other than that, please enjoy, leave a review… I know every fic tells you so, but every fic is right ! Leave a review, spread joy._

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'' This is the place. This is where it happened. Are you ready to hear ? Are you ready to know ?''

"We are ready to hear. We are ready to know."

"You will not turn away. The eyes that are open, shall never close."

"Our eyes are open. Our eyes shall never close."

"Once there was a girl. Her name is forgotten. Her face faded away"

"Her name is forgotten. Her face faded away."

"Only her hair remain. Her silky hair, her joy, her pride."

"Her joy, her pride."

"She shall always get more. She will never be satisfied… Okay, Hideto, if you're not gonna take this seriously, you can just leave."

"Sorry, sorry ! You just have to admit, it's hard to say all this shit with a straight face ! Come on !"

"Just because you can get in the spirit – pun intended – doesn't mean you have to ruin it for everybody else."

"I'll be quiet, promise ! Let's just finish the chantey thing and get to the good part !"

"But no more interruption or I'll stop."

"Fine, fine."

"Okay, let's go from "her silky hair, her joy, her pride.""

"Her joy, her pride."

"She shall always get more. She will never be satisfied."

"Never, never, never, never."

"She will get a taste of your hair. She will slurp it through her teeth."

"Through her teeth, her sharp teeth."

"It will never be enough. She will take more."

"More, more, more, more."

"She will pluck your hair, one by one. At first, you will not notice. You will lose your hair, slowly, as if it had been falling off."

"One by one."

"And the day you turn around, and see her dangling by your hair… She will open her mouth and swallow you whole."

"Slurp slurp slurp slurp."

"Okay, who has the hair ?"

"I got it. Put it in a zip bag, hope it's okay, that thing's kinda gross."

"Where did you even get it ?"

"The gym locker-room, after she showered."

"Ew."

"Hey, what was I gonna do ? I wasn't gonna pull it from her head, I'm not a creep."

"It's fine, people. Let's just put the hair on the altar and get this over with."

"I'm not touching it."

"Then leave it in the bag ! Makes no difference !"

"Kay, here we go."

"We offer you this meal, you who roams hungry for hair. Taste it, and find your next victim."

"Protect us, as we feed you."

"Feast and leave us be. Take the black sheep and cleanse the herd."

"We offer her to you. We offer her to you."

"We offer her to you, Kedama-otome."

"Okay, now blow the candles."

"Aaand we're done."

"Cool, cause I don't know about you guys, but I haven't started studying for the geography test tomorrow."

"Urgh, thanks for reminding me."

"Why do we even need to learn geography ? It's like, here's a mountain, here's a sea, congrats, here's your diploma."

"I know."

"Stop complaining you nerds, I know you're still gonna pull an all-nighter to ace this thing."

"Guilty. Blame peer pressure."

"Totally ! Hey guys…"

"Yeah ?"

""Do you believe she might actually die ?"

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Pork ramen, Urameshi, if you please."

"You know you can't pay me in markers, right ?"

"Fear not, I brought my heard-earned Japanese money. And if that takes the pressure off, I'm actually not here for the ramen – although I heard you're not so bad on that front."

"What pressure ? You can't grade me anymore, Take, have they told you that ?"

"Your oil is fuming."

"Shit."

"As I was saying, I was hoping to get to talk with you about your… other trade. I heard you can help people for a price."

"Okay, two questions : one, who told you about this, and two, how malleable is their face ?"

"It will become clear eventually. First, let me explain to you what lead me to seek your help."

"You want that in a bowl or a plate ?"

"Bowl, thank you Urameshi. So as you know, school started again a few months ago at Sarayashiki junior high, and like every year, I've been putting together the tutoring program for students who are struggling, either mark- or behaviour-wise."

"Ah yeah, Keiko did that before leaving for college. If it's about getting her info…"

"Well as it happens, this year I've decided to do something a little… different. Instead of getting students who were already exemplary when they were with us – like, say, Yukimura – to tutor our troubled elements, I wanted to try a different approach : getting students who were themselves in a difficult position when they were in middle school, but have since strived and achieved their goals."

"You mean getting people these kids might actually connect with instead of your usual goody-two-shoes ? Woah, what a revolutionary approach, Take, are you ready for that Order of the Rising Sun ?"

"Do you want to feel smart or do you actually want me to get to the end of this story ?"

"If that's about recruiting me for your little afterschool program, answer's no. I wouldn't want to do it if you paid me… it's not a paid gig, is it ?"

"No."

"Rats."

"Indeed, I thought of you at first. But I actually reached out to the more obvious choice first, and he confirmed me that you wouldn't be interested. Salt ?"

"On your right. That idiot. Of course he'd enjoy something like that."

"Kuwabara was very enthusiastic about joining the tutoring program. I'm very impressed with his success. He turned into the exceptional kid I always knew he could be."

"Which brings us back to the age-old question : why the hell are you here now ?"

"As I said, I wasn't going to contact you for the program. But a month ago, we got our first one."

"On the edge of my seat here."

"Youkai monster. I mean – demon. I… don't know how you're supposed to call them to be polite. Everything seems designed to be offensive."

"Wait. You got a youkai student ? At Sarayashiki ?"

"First one in the district. She enrolled in February, our board made quite a fuss about it. It was in the local papers."

"Aw, that's why I missed it, I only read international news."

"The point is, I think she's a sweet… person. But she's not doing so great. Grades are fine, but she keeps to herself, she's completely isolated, and keeps getting into… incidents. With the other students. Teachers, including myself, have tried to engage with her, but we're getting nowhere. It's hard to know what she understands or not."

"That was actually offensive."

"Don't be daft. You know what I mean. I don't know if she's fine or not with the way things are. From a human's perspective, she's being shunned and bullied. But she doesn't seem to want to react, and she's not talking to anyone. I was hoping… you could give it a try."

"The other students are being assholes, so SHE's the one who needs tutoring ?"

"Knowing you, there would be very little tutoring done in the process. All I want is for her to have someone she's comfortable sharing with. There's a lot of fear and ignorance going around, and most of it is on us to fix. But she has a part to play too. She can't just show up and expect everyone to accept her if we don't even know who she is and what she wants."

"Have you considered she might just want to be treated like everybody else ?"

"But she isn't like everybody else, is she ?"

"…"

"And neither are you. You never were. Listen, Urameshi, I might not know much about her, and youkai, or whatever they are, but I know teaching. I know students. I know "troubled" is often just a mixture of lonely, scared, and misunderstood. I wasn't wrong about you then, and I'm not wrong about her now. But I'm not the right person to reach out to her, just like I wasn't the right person to reach out to you. I want to believe you are. Will you do this, Urameshi ? Will you do this one thing for me ?"

"Geez okay, I'll do it, else I'm afraid next you'll propose to me or something."

"Thank you. I knew I could count on you. Where do I put the bowl ?"

"Leave it, I'll take care of it."

"Tutoring is every Tuesday at three. You remember where the study rooms are. The student's name is Fuyumi. She'll be waiting for you. I must be going now. And Urameshi ?"

"What now ?"

"Those were some excellent ramen."

The sound of Takenaka's footsteps were lost to the night. Behind his stand, Yuusuke watched his red-painted awnings flutter lightly in the evening wind. Oil was still sizzling on the metal pan.

"Fuck. Shit. Fuck."

The building wasn't much to look at. It was a solid hour away from the beating heart of the city, and despite harbouring a definitively eighties flare, it was already looking on the side of decay. A pathetic attempt at a communal front lawn with only a few twigs in pots and a not exactly green grass patch to show for itself was welcoming the tenants. The security meanwhile was decent. This, she had insisted on. _You make things change, you create something new, not everybody is going to be happy. You won't always be there to guard the place. I need to feel safe in my own home._ So now he had this stupid badge thingy he always misplaced, which some nights left him with no choice but to scale the side of the building and gently tap on the living room window hoping she would be home. He sometimes wondered what normal people did in this situation. Funny how he had lost the ability to put himself in a normal person's shoes. He stepped into the lobby. Well, "lobby", with quotations marks as big as the decorative pillars designed to make the entrance look impressive, but just made it a hassle to get a couch inside the elevator. He could still see the etchings on the side of the pillar from when he'd decided he was too annoyed to be delicate with the furniture. Up to the third floor. Down the hallway with the orange – or "ochre" as the designer had certainly called it – carpeting that wouldn't have marred in the Shining. Left door. Open. Close. And there it was.

Home. His home. His first home.

"Hey there."

She was hunched over the living room table, books and papers everywhere, and she hadn't looked up to greet him. After taking off his shoes and putting them in the entrance cabinet - _why are we getting a furniture whose whole purpose is literally the same as the floor ? Because it will look nice in the entrance, it will be inviting for the guests, and I will be able to tell people that even if he brushes elbows with the scariest monsters in creation, only I can get Yuusuke Urameshi to buy a shoe cabinet !_ \- he stepped on the wood flooring and made his way to her, then placed a kiss on top of her hair.

"I made a cabbage salad, tasted it, it was terrible, I threw that away, found some teriyaki sauce and beef so I made that. Help yourself, I have to finish annotating this course."

"I keep telling you I could simply eat at the stand."

"And I keep telling you I need to learn to get by in a kitchen somehow, and there's no one except you I can subject to my cooking."

"Because I'm your boyfriend or because I'm a near-immortal being ?

"Go eat, you idiot."

He circled around the countertop that separated the open kitchen from the rest of the living room and found the plate covered with aluminium foil on the stove. Looking up from this point in the room, he had a sweeping view of the entire apartment. Across the countertop, the living area was occupied by a corner sofa whose short arm was against the bar and longer arm against a wall which they had decorated with vintage posters they'd found for sale at an arcade. The couch had been their biggest spending ; the rest of the furniture, from the glass coffee table to the dinner table that was really just a plank propped on two trestles, to their bed even, were either donations from friends or second-hand thrifts. But they'd gotten the big couch for the same reason they'd gotten the shoe cabinet : it made it look like a real place, where people really lived and received their friends. Which, when you were young and clueless about how to be an adult, was pretty much what you aspired to. In front of him, a ceiling-high window opened on a small balcony that had been left bare for the time being – neither him nor Keiko being particularly dedicated gardeners – but Kurama had sworn to swing by sometime to remediate this inacceptable state of affairs. On his right, first was the entrance space, then immediately on the left the door to their room, and then another door, to another room. He would not have admitted it to Keiko, but this was really the thing that had made him say yes to this place, even though they could barely afford it with Keiko's scholarship and his revenue from the ramen stand and various dealings. They had visited smaller places that would have fitted their needs fine, but there was something about having a second room that just appealed to something deep within him. He'd never lived in a house where they had a second room. Even in the fancier place his mother had eventually moved into, he'd always taken the one room, and she would sleep in the living space. And now look at that ! He could have someone stay for the night and they would not have to sleep on the couch ! They could sleep in a real bed, in a real room ! Because it was his house, and in his house, they had a second room ! Yes it was small, mostly used for storage, and the bed they'd gotten for that room was Yuusuke's old bed, which had never really recovered from Sensui's Reyko-Reshuken blast and still exuded a deliciously crispy smell, but it was a second bed, dammit, because in Yuusuke's house, that was the life they led. That was the life he wanted to lead.

"What are you thinking about ?"

Keiko had propped her head on her hand, still holding a pen, and was looking at him, smiling.

"I got a visitor at the stand today. Takenaka."

"From middle school ? How is he ? What did he want ?"

"He's old. And he wanted me to tutor a youkai student for some stupid program he came up with."

"Did you agree ?"

"Yeah. And I seriously have no idea why."

"Oh Yuusuke."

She was outright grinning now.

"You agreed for the same reason you ever agree to anything. Because that's actually what you want to do, and you're just waiting for someone to ask you so you can act as if they forced you to do it."

"Why would I want to pep talk some young version of me into making stupid friends and getting good grades at a school I hate, like it's a good thing ?"

"I'm not the one you have to ask that to, am I ?"

"I never got tutored when I was in school, and I did fine."

"Isn't this exactly why you're doing this ? Because there's some part of you wondering if things could have been easier for you at that time if you'd actually gotten someone like you to talk with ?"

"I hate it when you get all deep with me."

"Look, all I know is that you're great with kids, and like it or not, you're actually not bad a teacher. This kid could benefit from meeting you, and you could use some time away from the stand. How much is Takenaka paying you ?"

"Shit, I didn't ask."

"Well, talk to him about it, maybe it will help you see this all this like a job. It's not all winning tournaments and saving the universe, sometimes it's just helping a young youkai getting themselves together."

"I like bad guys who want to blow up the universe. It's simple with them."

"And I'm sure one will turn up soon. But in the meantime, that's what you get."

"Hm. I'm going to bed, you're coming ?"

"In a short bit. Just finishing up here."

"Don't stay up too late, I don't want to have to shake you awake in the morning again."

"That was one time !"

"And I will make sure you never forget about it ever."

She threw her eraser at him. He raised his arm in mock protection.

"I love you."

"Me too, me too."

"Will you marry me ?"

"Nice try."

He opened the panel to his room, still plunged in darkness. A ray of artificial light penetrated the space between his feet. With one last glance at her, he slid the panel shut.

Some places are just bad. Not unpleasant, not dismal, just plain bad. In the sense that nothing good could ever come out of frequenting them, being in them or living in them. It was at least what Yuusuke was thinking when he crossed the threshold to Sarayashiki Junior High School for the first time in some four years. It's not that he had been afraid to pass by the place, it's just that he never had the occasion ; why would he need to come back there ? In any case, the place was just as unpleasant, dismal and _bad_ as he remembered. A rectangular building with a mosaic façade that just made the entire thing look like a bathroom wall, a central clock whose stone had turned grey even by the time Yuusuke was in school, and a concrete playground with almost erased markings for gym class. The only element of note in the yard was a rather luxuriant camellia tree on the right whose branches reached almost to the second floor of the school. Keiko's favourite spot to read during break, Yuusuke recalled. He had been more of a roof man himself, the proximity of nature always somehow making him feel like he was in enemy territory – and even more so since he had met Kurama. Aside from that, the place was utterly devoid of charm. This was no one's dream middle school. No parent wistfully told tales to their children of the time they were in Sarayashiki junior high. No, this was the kind of place you stayed in until they told you you could leave. And for Yuusuke, that had been the second he had had his diploma in hand.

Study rooms were near the library, on the second floor. Right pass Yuusuke's old homeroom, because of course they were. Yuusuke straightened his neck, ready to pass by without even a glance inside. There was the spot he'd shot his first Reigun at Iwamoto. Funny, when he thought about it, that his grand debut had been to get back at an asshole teacher and not against some life-threatening demon. Almost prophetic, in a way. When they'd met to discuss compensation, Takenaka had told Yuusuke Iwamoto had left to teach in a private school when it had been announced public schools would be accepting youkais. It was comforting somehow to know that some assholes were just assholes in every way.

"Urameshi ! I knew you'd come !"

Oh. Right.

Watching Kuwabara wave at him from the entrance of the study, Yuusuke if he had been too harsh thinking nothing good had ever come of him attending Sarayashiki. Some part of him, however, replied that he and this idiot would have crossed paths somehow ; as if their meeting was inevitable. But he didn't know how much that part of him was trying to reassure itself.

"When Takenaka told me the problem he had with his new student, I told him I was sure you'd accept to give him a hand ! And I was right !"

"Yeah, thanks a lot, you moron. I wanted nothing more than a reason to come back to this place."

"You know it's weird, you always see people in shows going back to their school and thinking how small it looks, but I think it looks as dreadful as ever."

"A shithole remains a shithole, no matter if you've taken a bath or not."

"Yeah, but I mean, it's more than that. Last time I was there, my powers weren't that developed. But right now, lemme tell you, this place is absolutely crawling with spooky energies. No wonder a youkai would feel comfortable here."

"Yeah, somehow I don't think I'm gonna talk to her about that."

"Wait, it's a girl ? Damn, I should have said yes when Takenaka asked me to tutor her."

"You mean he asked you first ?"

"Alright, tutors."

Takenaka appeared in the hallway.

"The students you'll be accompanying are installed in the study, with enough space to give you privacy to talk. If I can give you a bit of advice, most of these kids see us as enemies. Just remember what you would have wanted to hear from us when you were in their place."

Yuusuke, Kuwabara and a dozen other people entered the room at Takenaka's command. When Yuusuke passed him by as he was holding the door, he whispered to him :

"Last student on the right."

He shouldn't have bothered. The second Yuusuke saw her, he knew.

She was inhumanly beautiful. Her black hair were cut to her shoulders, and lightly stuck up at the extremity. Her pink lips were posed like a budding rose on her pale skin. Her hooded eyes were a profound red, but unlike Hiei or Yukina's identic eyes, this was not an inviting, expressive red, but something secret, hidden, and protected. If you only gave her a passing glance, she did look the part of an ordinary fourteen years old. But any once-over would immediately give her away as _something else_. The school uniform seemed something she could shed at any moment to reveal her real skin. And for all he knew, she might. This would not be easy.

"Hey."

She raised her eyes to meet his, indifferent and almost lordly.

"I'm gonna assume Take already gave you the usual pep talk, offered you tea or some shit and told you he knows you can do great here. I gotta admit something : I have no idea if it's true. Maybe you're just a shitty kid, or maybe you're gonna have a shitty childhood for no other reason that you're shit out of luck. I dunno. But I know that if there's some shit you actually want to talk about, I can listen. I'm usually better at talking. But I can try."

"You say shit a lot."

Her voice was exactly like her. A breeze whose origin you couldn't quite determine, that rustled you lightly and made you feel perpetually on edge.

"Well, tough shit. And since we're on confessions : I have no idea how this tutoring thing is supposed to work. I can barely learn things on my own, I certainly have no idea how to teach them to someone else. My girlfriend says I'm a great teacher, but I mostly teach people lessons by pummelling at them."

"What is your girlfriend like ?"

"She's really smart. Kind of a smartass too, but without being mean. Proud. She takes no shit from anyone. She still refuses to marry me."

"Why ?"

"Wish I'd knew. Maybe it's because she doesn't like doing things just because she's told to, or maybe she's afraid I'll leave again at some point."

"Will you ?"

"No."

"Good. Things shouldn't leave the place where they belong."

"Where do you belong ?"

"I'd like to think I belong here."

"When did you move from Makai ?"

"Six months after the passage opened. My family passes as human, so our relocation happened pretty quickly. It's harder for those with prominent demonic features."

"And why on earth would you want to go to school ? And more importantly, why would you want to come to THIS school ?"

"Because Urameshi Yuusuke went there."

He had been unprepared. Kurama had told him his name was more closely tied to the new world order than he liked to think, but he rarely encountered tangible signs of his fame.

"Lemme get this straight. You went there in hopes of meeting me ?"

"No. I had no idea they would ask you to come talk to me."

"Then why…"

"The morning I first went to school, there were parents at the gate. Holding signs. Shouting things. Eventually, the parents left. But their children stayed. Shouting at me. Writing on my desk. Because I'm the first one. Because "I don't belong". But then I walk these halls, I sit at those desks, and I tell myself, _I'm not the first one._ Because Urameshi Yuusuke went there. And I feel better."

Her expression had barely changed as she was talking. There was no trace of emotion in her eyes, no sign of the effect everything she described had on her. This painted an eerie portrait, as if a movie had ended up with the wrong subtitles, and you were simultaneously trying to make sense of what was said and what was on the screen.

"Takenaka said he didn't know if what was happening was affecting you or not. I guess it does, but I'm not sure there's anything more I can do. You seem to have it covered."

"They are affecting me. But I'm also affecting them."

"What do you mean ?"

"Don't you feel it ?"

He remembered Kuwabara's words. This place. Crawling with spooky energies. Hardly a surprise.

He slightly jolted. She had placed her hand on his wrist.

"Things belong where they belong, Urameshi Yuusuke. But sometimes they don't belong _together_."

Her eyes were very close now.

"Find what does not belong. Before it takes them all."

"You have to give me a little more than that to go on…"

"I don't have anything else. There's poison in the water, infiltrating the soil. Impossible to tell where it comes from, yet you feel it everywhere. And soon nothing will live."

"And you're saying it's here ?"

"Yes. I don't know what it is. I only see its effects. Humans bear the symptoms. But I don't know the disease, therefore I don't know its cure. Maybe you'll have more luck than me, detective."

"You lied. You knew I'd come here."

"I know the sunflower finds the light. I know you'll find the trouble. After all…"

She stood up and got a hold of her bag.

"You are Urameshi Yuusuke. You made this world."


	2. By a thread : part two

**CHAPTER TWO : BY A THREAD**

**PART TWO**

_Welcome back ! In this chapter, Yuusuke investigates a new threat in a familiar place._

_Enjoy and review !_

* * *

"So ?"

Takenaka barely waited before they were out of the room before eagerly asking him about the meeting.

"What do you think, does she need help ?"

"According to her…"

Yuusuke closed the door with the back of his foot, in a gesture remindful of his time between these walls.

"You all do."

"What ?"

"Is there somewhere we can talk ?"

"Err… my office. We can have some tea."

Takenaka has spent the better part of Yuusuke's middle school trying to make him come to his office for some tea and a talk. Yuusuke couldn't remember if he'd ever succeeded, but every part of Takenaka's office looked achingly familiar, but a sort of familiar that had nothing to do with memory, and everything to do with the kind of space you imagine a certain person in. It was as if Takenaka has sprouted fully formed out of this room, with all his accessories to play with. Comfortable leather chairs. Regal bookshelves populated by thick volumes. A perpetual smell of green tea. As Takenaka was sitting down on the other side of the mahogany desk, Yuusuke noticed for the first time how much trouble he seemed to have to move. He huffed heavily from the effort of bending his knees.

"Hey, are you old person-tired or…"

"Brain aneurysm. Got diagnosed two years after you left. I'm lucky, it was caught early. I just have episodes of weakness, and some troubles to see. It hasn't affected my work. And like you said, it's nothing that an old person like myself doesn't have to face eventually."

"That's still shitty."

"Yes. It is still shitty."

Takenaka lost himself for a moment in the contemplation of his hands. Yuusuke caught the sight of something that looked like a bird feeder outside the window.

"So ? The kid ?"

"She's weird. But she's got her shit together. Most youkais are weird. That's not what I wanted to talk about. Did you notice anything strange at school lately ?"

"Urameshi, since there's a demon girl coming to my geometry class every Monday, it's hard to know what is supposed to be weird or not."

"The normal students. Have they been acting out of the ordinary ?"

"Well, there is quite a violent climate a school right now, but I attributed it to the state the world is currently in. I think everyone feels a bit lost."

"Anything more specific ? Something that would make you say, "is that a new urban legend or something ?""

"I haven't heard anything. But I wouldn't be the one to know about this kind of hubbub. You'd have to ask the students. What is this about ?"

"Fuyumi says something is affecting the students. She thinks her presence in the school awoke it. She's afraid it might hurt someone."

"As a matter of fact…"

Takenaka opened a drawer and started burrowing through some suspended files.

"Someone did get hurt, very recently."

He extirpated a file and opened it on the desk.

"Kisaki Maho. Third year. I didn't think to mention it because it didn't happen on school ground. Apparently she was getting out of the subway and her hair got caught in the door. She was dragged on a couple of meters before they stopped the train. Her hair got partly ripped off her head."

"Apparently ? Did anyone see it happen ?"

"That's the thing. It seems the people in the train didn't realize what was happening before they heard the screams. Which seems strange if her hair was really caught in the door."

"Could definitely be something. You know if there's any way I can talk to her ?"

"Not right now, I'm afraid. Her family went to the countryside to wait until she's recovered."

"Okay, Take, I'm gonna make this simple. Youkais rarely bullshit us if there's no reason to. That's a human thing. So either Fuyumi is right, or she wants something. Either way, as much as it kills me, I think I'm gonna need to stick around for a while."

"Obviously, if you think that's necessary, I'm at your disposal but… this is still a school. They're not going to let any adult simply roam around and talk to the students."

"So… what am I gonna do ?"

"I have an idea. You're going to hate it."

Kuwabara was waiting for him by the school gate.

"So ? How did it go with cute youkai girl ? My student is a goddamn little shit. I do not have a "banana face" !"

"The girl's surprisingly fine. It's this school that isn't."

"Oh… that spooky energy wasn't just the result of some demon's difficult digestion, was it ?"

"No. It's something bad."

"Some things never change, eh ?"

They were walking side by side in exactly the same fashion they had, four years ago. Lounging the school gate, they remained silent for a few seconds. Finally, Kuwabara turned toward his friend.

"We gotta do something, don't we ?"

"I don't "do something" anymore. I'm just doing this one thing. And then the thing after that. I don't make the world."

"Hey… are you okay ?"

"No, I'm not okay. I'm a teaching assistant."

There it was again. The sound. It was like an aspiration, but not exactly. Something like a tongue going inward. Lips puckering. A slurping. Something like one of those animals that ate ants with their long tongue. And it went on. Slurp. Slurp. Slurp. Slurp. And every time, she felt it. The slight shock of pain on her head. As if someone had pulled a single hair from her scalp.

It had started annoying. But she had migraines, so it could have been that. Then it became preoccupying. It happened even in class, distracted her, sometimes visibly jolting her off her seat. And then it became scary. While brushing her hair the other day, she had found something that looked like a bald spot, right behind her ear. And the skin was red and sore.

Even now, as she was walking down the street, she could feel the slight pull backwards, pushing her slightly out of balance, as if something didn't want her to move forward. So she'd walk even faster. Try to outrun this thing. Her best friend who was into new age stuff told her she was cursed. She was afraid she had some kind of disorder. She'd heard that some brain tumours could cause changes in perception. She had begged her dad to get her an appointment at the hospital. She didn't believe in curses. Her mom was an engineer. Her dad was an ophthalmologist. She trusted science. So she'd walk faster.

Her long hair was floating behind her. It was as if something was clawing at it. And there was that sound in her ear. Slurp. Slurp. It was so annoying, she just wanted to tell whatever was loose in her brain to stop, find its rightful place and leave her alone. Slurp. Slurp. It was even louder now somehow. Slurp. Slurp. It was almost making her trip. Slurp. Slurp. So annoying, she just wanted to turn around, and…

"Er… So… Hi, everyone."

"…"

"So I'm not a teacher. In case that wasn't fu… super obvious to anyone here."

"…"

"Name's Urameshi. And I'm here because your esteemed professor Takenaka thought it would be a good idea for someone to come here and answer your questions about Youkais, Makai and generally any weird stuff that's going around. In this school. And in the world. But more specifically in this school."

"…"

"So… shoot."

"…"

"Really ? No one ?"

"…"

"I ain't gonna eat you."

"…"

"Sorry, that joke's funnier if you know that I'm a youkai."

"…!"

"Hey, almost got a reaction here. I don't actually eat people. Just a little something about me. So ask your questions to the nice non-people-eating youkai who came all this way for you."

"…"

"Okay you know what, I'll start, cause if I wait for any of you to grow a spine we're gonna be here forever. So. Demons. They're a thing. We'll call that lesson one… Yes ? You, on the right, with the face ?"

"How do we know you're really a demon ?"

"Oh, here we have our first smartass. Well, smartass, if you look at my teeth, you'll notice they could rip the spiral off your notebook. Chee ? Chee how pointy vey are ?"

"Could totally be false teeth."

"Okay, let's try something else. See the lunch bag on your desk ?"

"Yeah."

"No you don't."

"Holy crap !"

"Yeah."

"Did you just shoot at my lunch ?"

"I'm proving a point, there are no rules. So, if smartass is satisfied, if you guys have any questions… Yes ? Third row ?"

"Where do you come from ?"

"Youkais in general, they come from another universe called Makai. Me in particular, I come from five streets down the Daimaru Umeda department store on V avenue."

"Huh ? How come ?"

"Well, some youkais were actually born and raised in our world. My story is a teeny bit more complicated. Basically, I was born human, but since one of my faraway ancestors was a youkai, when I went through some shit, I suddenly became a youkai. Sorry I said shit."

"You said it again."

"Do you want me to shoot at your bag next, smartass ?"

"How do we know if our ancestors were youkais ?"

"Great question. No idea."

"Have you ever killed a human ?"

He paused to look at the author of the question. Impeccable hair. Dress code honoured to the letter. He wondered if his parents were holding signs and shouting things the first time Fuyumi had come to school.

"So ? Or are you scared to answer ? Scared that it's gonna ruin your cool-guy image and reveal what a monster you are."

The class had fallen silent. So, this was one of those moments. Those moments when the teacher gave a rousing speech about differences, the irrationality of hatred, and everyone left the room with inspiration in their heart. A moment he was absolutely gonna fuck up.

"What I'd like to know, he started, is why you're asking me this question. Because if it's to know if you should be scared of me, I'll save you some time, you should. I'm an objectively scary dude. But guess what ? So is everybody else. I've fought giant ogres, masters of the elements, muscle monsters, literal war gods, and you know what ? It didn't make me less scared of everybody else. You, every single one of you, are fucking scary. Because at any moment, you can turn to someone who happens to be weaker than you at that second and make their life hell. And to them, you'll be just as scary as a giant ogre or a war god. And no matter how powerful I am, at that second there's nothing I'll be able to do to stop you. And that's terrifying. So you wanna know if I've ever killed a human ? Yeah, I did, once. And this dude, he wanted to kill all humans. You know why ? Because he couldn't stop humans from doing bad things at every second, even though he was much more powerful than them. And I could just do that. I could wake up one morning, and do exactly that. Because being scared sucks. I don't know what else to tell you. It sucks. So…" he raised his shoulders. "We're all just gonna keep being scared. Because there's no other way. Sorry I said fucking."

A blank.

Then a hand rose near the window.

"Yeah ? Smartass ?"

"What's a muscle monster ?"

He smiled.

"Teacher ?"

"You take that back."

As the students were exiting the classroom, he turned to see the confused face of a teenage girl.

"Sorry. What's on your mind ?"

"I was wondering… Do some youkais use curses ?"

He gave her a second look. Pentagram necklace, dyed hair, pierced ears, black socks. Great.

"What kind of curse are you thinking about ?"

"My best friend, Matsuno Chie, she's been troubled lately. She says there's constantly something tugging at her hair, like someone was pulling it."

"You know, even though the world's pretty messed up right now, the simplest explanation is still the most plausible. It could just be something itching, or a false impressions."

"That's what I thought too, but she didn't come to class this week. And I called her home, and they don't know where she is. I'm scared."

"Did you talk to Takenaka about this ?"

"I was going to today but… I thought maybe I'd tell you. Maybe you'd know what to do."

"I never do. But most of the time I still do it anyway. Thanks, …"

"Erina. Well, I prefer Raven."

"I'm sure you do. Well thanks Erina, I'll look into it."

As the girl was hurrying out of the class Takenaka stepped in – had he been standing in the hallway the whole time ? – with his ponderous gait.

"So ? How's the class from the other side of the bench ?"

"I'll say this with all my heart : fuck you, and fuck your stupid ideas."

"You seem to have handled it remarkably well. The students seemed really enthusiastic in the hallway. You know you could actually be doing that full time ?"

"I'd honestly rather die. And I died twice."

"Have you learned anything ?"

"Maybe. Do you know a girl called Matsuno ?"

"I was just about to talk to you about it. Last night, one of our students, Matsuno Chie, was found unresponsive in the street. She had been… scalped."

"Scalped ? Like old-movie-Indian scalped ?"

"Yes. But instead of a knife, it's as if someone had ripped the skin of her head off."

"Sounds a lot like what happened to the other girl."

"That's what I thought too. But the damage's much worse this time. The girl's on life support. Her days… aren't numbered, but it's going to be a while before she's… she's able to talk."

Takenaka suddenly flopped over the desk. His breathing was heavy.

"Hey Take, maybe you should rest or something."

"No, Urameshi. I shouldn't "rest or something". I shouldn't even be talking about mutilated students. None of this should be happening. This is a nightmare."

"Look, one of my friends is coming by to get a look at the school. I'll ask him to give you something to relax. You've done enough. I'm handling it now."

"Yuusuke ?"

"What ?"

"You too, became an exceptional kid."

"He's fine now. Mostly, he needs to rest."

As Kurama closed the door to the infirmary behind him, Yuusuke got off the wall he was leaning on.

"What was it ? His aneu… something ?"

"It can act up under stress. For certain types of aneurysms, there's not really a cure, so it's mostly Band-Aids."

"Nothing I can do. Got it. Let's get to work."

"Yuusuke."

"Yeah what ?"

"Someone you've known a long time is in a delicate position. It's okay if you want to take a moment…"

"You heard yourself. Stress is causing this. So the best I can do right now is to find whatever is behind those attacks, so I can get out of here and never come back."

Kurama sighed.

"If you say so. What do we know so far ?"

"According to Fuyumi, something is influencing the behaviour of the students. Something that was awakened by her presence here. And that's probably tied to two attacks in which girls from this school got their hair yanked so hard it ripped out part of their head."

"That doesn't help us much. Almost every C-class youkai would be able to pull off such an attack. Singling out youkais who can control behaviour only barely narrows it down."

"Here's what I don't get : why would it need to control the students if it's just gonna attack them anyway ?"

"It could be the other way around. Maybe the attacks are necessary for it to gain control."

"There's also what Erina said. She believed Chie was cursed, and something was constantly pulling at her hair."

"Hair does seem to be an important piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately, adding curses to the mix even widens the net. Putting youkais aside, a simple human could cook up a curse that would result in the attacks we've seen so far."

"So we basically have nothing."

"We've done with much less. Here's what we can do. I'll go to the hospital to take a look at Chie. If she is indeed cursed, there's bound to still have some evil energy around her. Curses don't let go of their victims that easily. Meanwhile, maybe you could talk with Erina again. She might know more about that so-called curse."

"So it had started."

They both pivoted on their feet. Fuyumi's footsteps hadn't made a sound.

"Just like I told you. It's taking them."

"Ah, Fuyumi, meet Kurama. He's a specialist of all things youkai."

Green eyes met red ones.

"You won't find anything at the hospital", she said. "It is done with them now. It is prowling for a new prey. I don't think it has chosen yet."

"You seem to know a lot for someone who doesn't know anything."

Kurama's gaze was as cutting as Hiei's blade.

"I cannot fight. I cannot run. But I can feel. This is all I can contribute. This is where I belong now. I won't leave it to something else."

She waved an icy goodbye and turned around.

"Yep, she's a grower."

Yuusuke turned to Kurama. He seemed deep in thought.

"That girl… I feel like I've seen her somewhere."

She needed to stop. It had started to show. She knew people were talking about it. Or maybe they weren't, but they should have. She felt like it was glaring them in the face. Her dad, she could see his confused and concerned gaze on her when she left the room. Her friends – or were they really her friends ? – they didn't see it yet, but they would soon. She just left so much behind. There were so many signs. Were they blind ? How was she supposed to stop ? She knew she had to, rationally. Yet again and again it was like a click, and then her hands started moving on their own. And when she emerged, she had done it again. It should have been enough. There was so much everytime.

But it was so soothing.

It was so… delicious.

"Are you fucking serious ?! We're not doing it again ! Matsuno's in the hospital !"

"That's why we can't stop. We know she's real now. And she's going to choose another target. If we don't give her someone, who knows who she might pick. Might be me. Might also be you."

"No. No way. I'm out. This isn't a fucking joke. We need to tell someone."

"And who would you tell ? That TA ? You're going to tell him what you did too ?"

"…"

"Yeah. Look, you don't want to do the ritual again, it's fine. But you can't blow this for the rest of us. We're all scared. We need to protect ourselves."

"Just… leave me alone from now on, okay."

"Got it. Don't worry. Hold on…"

"Ouch ! What ?"

"Bee on your neck."

"Whatever. I'm going back to class."

"Yeah. I won't be long either."

The other disappeared in the building. Still standing in the courtyard, she looked at her hand. A thin black thread was dangling between her fingers.

"No. Not long at all."

When he got home, there was a message from Kurama on his answering machine.

"_Hello Yuusuke. So, there was no energy around the girl at the hospital. Fuyumi was right. I examined the wound however. Her scalp wasn't "ripped off", it was more as if it had been sucked upwards. There's something else. On the part of the scalp still present around her ears, the skin was completely devoid of hair. Like it had been plucked out. That concords with what Erina told you. Meaning whatever attacked this girl was gnawing at her well before yesterday. Now that's strange. I don't know of any youkai that feeds on hair. So it's looking more on the side of curses. But if there's no more energy around the last victim, it means it has a moving target. We might have another attack very soon. Anyway, have a good evening. Call me when you have more."_

He plopped down on the couch and closed his eyes. He thought he might just fall asleep right there. But then the answering machine beeped again.

"_Um…hi, Mr. Urameshi… it's Raven. I mean Erina. I got your number from Mr. Takenaka. I, um… I heard about Chie. I just…"_ There was a bit of crying there. _"I wanna know if we're all going to be okay. I shouldn't have called. I'm so sorry."_ Click.

Why did he think it would be a good idea to give Takenaka his number ?

Keiko wasn't home tonight. When she had a late class, she crashed at one of her friends' at the college dormitory. Maybe they should have moved to Tokyo when she got accepted at Yotsuya like they'd discussed. Far away from Sarayashiki, far away from this town. But there were his friends. And his mother. And the dozens of monsters that had come to his hometown as if it'd been a pilgrimage. They came here looking for acceptance, and they ended up with pretty much the exact same deal as everybody else. He didn't know how to tell them that his presence didn't have the power of making the world around him magically better. There was nothing to do except wait, and stand watch. That was Koenma had told him the last time they'd met. The only way to care for a changing world. _This new equilibrium, Yuusuke, is so fragile, a simple fillip can throw it all out of balance. There are so many powerful forces at work that benefit from things remaining exactly the way they were. And so many others that will try to slither in the crack created by the friction we caused. We cannot be another one of these forces. We have to protect, without imposing, and stabilize, without weighing down. We have to be the subtle breeze that holds the entire edifice into place. Will you help me ?_ There was absolutely no job Yuusuke would be worse at. He'd said no.

He turned on the TV without much conviction. As usual, Koto and company were on. He turned if off again. He tapped his fingers on the edge of the couch. Sighed a couple times. Then he raised his hand in a posture of giving up, grabbed his jacket and shoes, and exited the apartment.

Once, when he was thirteen, his mother had brought home a guy. Not a horrible guy, just a guy. He drank, he shouted, he had tattoos, but so did his mother. And so they drank together. Yuusuke had just started middle school. And every afternoon, he'd come home to them drinking. One day, as he was stepping out the school gate, he had just stopped. And turned around. He'd went back into the school. Found himself a closet. And waited. Waited until everybody had left. And then it got dark. All the doors were closed. The school had fallen silent. Yuusuke had opened the closet, and had roamed around the empty halls and classrooms for hours. He'd picked the lock to the infirmary and settled on one of the beds. Then he must have fallen asleep. When he had woken up the next morning, someone was carrying him in their arms. He was put in a cab. He turned his head, and the teacher he would come to know as Takenaka was sitting next to him. _"Did you sleep well ?"_ he said. _"None of your business"_ Yuusuke had answered. _"You need to go home now."_ _"Are you gonna tell ?" "Do you want me to ?" "No." "Then no."_ They'd pulled over in front of Yuusuke's house. Takenaka made a movement to get out of the cab. _"Don't come in." "I must meet with your mother. She must be worried." "I don't want you to come in." "Then I won't. Just make sure you don't get yourself locked up in the school again."_ The car had driven off. Yuusuke had opened the door to his home. His mother and the guy were both sound asleep surrounded by empty bottles of cheap sake.

In one movement, Yuusuke jumped over the school gate. The school at night was still the same mixture of gloom and peace. He walked around the building and found a backdoor with a lock he could pick. His footsteps resonated in the floor of the empty hallways. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for – or indeed if there was anything to look for in the first place – he just knew this was where he needed to be. He slid the door to his old classroom. Here, in the back – his desk. Exact same one, too. That was public school for you. He sat down. Kuwabara was right. Nothing looked smaller. It just looked older.

A sound awoke him from the half-sleep he was falling into, his head on the desk. Someone was trying to move some desks around – quite clumsily too. He followed the sound that seemed to come from the other hand of the hallway. Chemistry classrooms, if memory served him right. When he was certain he was in front of the door to the room the sound was coming from, he silently put his handle on the handle, and slid it open brutally.

"Hello hello hello ! What do we have here ?"

Oh, the delightful look of surprise on the teens' faces. He could really get used to this teacher thing. But there was something else. At the centre of the magic circle, or coven, or whatever they probably called it – a lock of hair.

"So… who wants to start with the explaining ?"

"We didn't start it !"

The guy on the left who had started talking was holding out tears. Badly.

"We weren't going to get into it, but then the journalism club told us they were gonna offer one of us ! So we had no choice than to do the ritual before them !"

"Back up. What ritual ?"

The teens looked at each other, an expression of their face like someone who realized right before delivering the punchline that the joke isn't that funny.

"Kedama-otome."


	3. By a thread : part three

Chapter three : By a thread

Part three

_The thrilling conclusion of the first arc ! Pieces come together. Like… something long that makes a bigger thing when joined with other long things. There's a metaphor somewhere in there. Enjoy !_

* * *

Here was the story, as much as Yuusuke could piece it together from the moping teenagers' words : some ghost, monster, or creature, with no face, some big teeth, and a fuckton of hair, called Kedama-otome was roaming around the school looking for hair. By doing some wacky ritual, you could actually sic her on a victim. She would eat their hair one after the other, until she just ate the entire scalp. Or head. It was unclear. No one knew who had given her the two girls who had been hurt but surely, it must have been _someone_, I mean, just look at what had happened to them. So now, the entire school was racing to steal each other's hair to offer them to Kedama-otome, in fear that they might be next if they didn't offer her another victim first. How did the urban legend first started ? It was that girl in first year. No, she'd heard it from that guy in the basketball club. Then whom did he hear it from ? Wasn't it from the guy who had that motorcycle ? Who heard it from his girlfriend ? Anyway, it had probably started the same way any spooky rumour starts, with some manga shit and a dare, until it had spun out of control to where they were today.

The kids had given him the names of all the other people they knew who may have partaken in a ritual, and pretty much everything he wanted after he'd promised them he wouldn't tell their parents. After shouting them out of the room, Yuusuke leaned down to grab the lock of hair. Mid-long. Black. Unidentifiable. He blew out the candles the kids had installed around the circle – rose-scented bathroom candles – and directed his gaze outside the classroom window. The school ground created a circle of darkness inside the illuminated city. The branches of the camellia rustled in the night breeze. A minuscule movement against the school wall attracted his eye. Something small. A silhouette. A flash of pale skin. Fuyumi.

By the time Yuusuke had gotten down the building, she was gone.

"No, never heard of her."

Sitting around Yuusuke's dinner table, Kurama and Kuwabara were looking at him.

"That's impossible, you know everything."

"She doesn't sound like any youkai I know. But you know how urban legends are. By the time they are fully-formed, they often don't have much in common with the youkai they're based on. There's something else."

Kurama poured more tea into his cup.

"I looked into Fuyumi, like you asked. The address she gave the school is fake. So are her parents' names. No one heard of this family among youkais. Either they really like to keep to themselves, or she's trying to hide something. Maybe you could follow her, see where she goes after she leaves the school."

"Here's the thing, I don't think she leaves the school at all. I saw her there last night. She was still in her uniform."

"I talked with Akio, the boy I tutor. He pretty much confirmed what the kids told you last night. He doesn't have any idea who started with the rumour either, but he added something : apparently, that Kedama-otome cannot get very far away from the school ground. That's why, after the first girl got attacked and moved away, she didn't come back for the rest of her hair. Otherwise, she doesn't get off a victim until she's gotten every single last one of their hair."

"So Fuyumi could definitely be responsible. What I don't get is what she told me about the whole thing in the first place. The most convenient thing for her would have been to keep it all to herself."

"Could have been a gamble. She knew Takenaka had asked you for help. Maybe she thought it was only a matter of time before you heard about the Kedama-otome story, she wanted to take your suspicions off her."

"Um. In any way, we're due for a little talk. Kuwabara, do you think there's any chance you could pick up something on school ground ? Like, who's the next victim ?"

"Maybe. Your "class" is tomorrow, isn't it ? I could accompany you."

"And Kurama, maybe you could meet us up after school, and we'll go see Fuyumi."

"Sounds like a plan. And Yuusuke… do you have any idea what you're going to tell the students ?"

"Heh. I already told them I was fucking scary, didn't I ?"

"Let's talk about Matsuno Chie."

"…"

"And Kisaki Maho."

"…"

"What are they like ? What's their favourite show ? Do they wear makeup ? Do they belong to any club ?"

"…"

"I know for a fact some of you were friends with them. Does anyone want to share a memory of those two ?"

"…"

"Personally, I've never met either of them. I don't know if they were nice girls or fucking harpies. But I know that whatever they were, they didn't deserve what happened to them."

"…"

"And you know how I know that ?"

"…"

"Because when there's someone I don't like, someone who really pisses me off, I don't get with my merry group of friends to steal their hair and curse them through some bullshit ritual. I go see them and we deal with it face to face. Pummelling may or may not be involved. But I don't offer them to some creature that's going to rip their hair away and suck their head off."

"…!"

"Oh, sorry, was that too much for you ? Guess what, I don't give a crap. Because I wouldn't even be talking about this if not for you snotty idiots and your stupid, stupid games."

"…"

"So now we're all gonna sit here until every single one of you gives up all the hair you've stolen from each other. Which, by the way, creepy much ? Yeah, smartass ?"

"How do you know we're not just going to take more ?"

"Great question. The answer is, starting today, if I catch any one of you with a bunch of hair, we're going to have one of these face-to-face explainings I was just talking about. So get them all out, this is your one amnesty moment. Starting… now."

No one dared move at first. Then one hand timidly reached for their drawer. A small plastic bag of hair appeared on the table. Eyes wouldn't meet his. Wouldn't meet each other. Then another bag appeared, on another desk. Then another one. And another one. It wouldn't stop. Soon the entire class was looking down on their desk at these small balls of hair, like so many cockroaches crawling on the tables. All but for one desk.

"Erina ? You get that this is your one chance, right ?"

"I… I don't have any, teacher, I promise."

"Oh, so you won't mind if I take a look inside your drawer ?"

"I'm telling you I don't have any !"

"Fine, let's check out how much not hair there is in there shall we ?"

"No !"

She was gripping her desk so hard Yuusuke was afraid he'd hurt her if he tried to pull her away from the drawer. So he did the opposite and grabbed the desk, flipping it over so the drawer would empty its content on the floor. Erina screamed.

It was filled to the brim with hair.

"It's called trichotillomania."

As they were sitting in Takenaka's office, Kurama held an oolong tea can over his head.

"It's a form of self-harm in which you compulsively pull your hair out, and often eat it."

Yuusuke absent-mindedly grabbed the can and opened it with a flick of the thumb.

"All the hair in her drawer was hers. We know because they were dyed. We've interrogated her friends, and they've seen her repeatedly pull hair from her head. They just thought it was a weird tic."

"On a scale of one to ten, how much do you think I've traumatized her ?"

"Try to get your mind off that. You couldn't have predicted what would happen. In any case there's definitely a link between her disorder and the Kedama-otome. The two are way too similar."

"I have to talk to her. What on earth am I going to say ?"

"Yuusuke…"

"I was supposed to be the grown-up here. I was supposed to… I don't know… I acted like a fucking kid."

The door opened on Kuwabara. Kurama shot him a gaze that said "I'm getting nowhere. You give it a try." Kurama stood and got through the door Kuwabara was holding.

"I'll try to get a hold of Fuyumi. We'll meet later."

The two friends were left alone in the room. Kuwabara leaned on the desk.

"So what's really the problem ?"

"Sorry, did you miss me monumentally fucking up in every way possible an hour ago ?"

"Yeah, sure, like that's gonna work on me. You've been out of it ever since Take came to see you. You accept to tutor here, to teach some kids, you come back here at night… What's up with you and this place, dude ?"

"I don't belong."

Kuwabara eyed his friend.

"I didn't belong anywhere for a long time. And then I… remade the world so there would be a place for me. Literally jumbled two universes together to get to that result. And now, I come back here and I find… I still don't belong. So what was the point of all of this ?"

"You're so full of shit."

"What did you say, fuckhead ?"

"You heard me. You "remade the world" ? The world was already an awful fucking mess long before you showed up. You just made it a different mess. And we're still all trying to figure it out. Just because you still don't feel right doesn't mean it wasn't worth making it that way. It just means there's still more work to do."

"Heh. No rest for the heroes, is that it ?"

"You said it."

"Well, I've got to fix that mess first."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry about what happened."

"It's not your fault. Part of me wanted someone to finally find out. I'm not strong enough to stop on my own."

"Why do you do it ?"

"I don't know. I started when I was little, after my mom died. It was like a way to occupy myself. Then it became a reflex. And now it's like I can't do without it."

"You know I have to ask. Did you take part in one of those rituals ?"

"Never. But… it's still my fault."

"What do you mean ?"

"Kedama-otome… I created her."

She reached for her bag and opened a notebook full of drawings. She searched for a page and handed it to Yuusuke.

The girl did have talent. Taking an entire page, there she was. Kedama-otome. Stringy, covered from head to toe by black hair that winded around her arms and legs, a gigantic mouth taking most of her torso, with sharp teeth edging forward like those of a rat, and a lizard-like thin longue that protruded out of her mouth and reached for the hair around her, ready to suck it in.

"Not sure I get it."

"She's just a character I created. It was sort of… cathartic, I think that's the word ? Like, I'd imagine myself pulling my hair, and then I'd imagine that instead it was some kind of monster who was sucking it away. Like, this way, it wasn't really me hurting myself. It was the monster."

"So how did we get from a page in your drawing book to something ripping of the hair of your comrades ?"

"I have no idea ! It's like I conjured her. But I didn't do anything, I swear ! I like candles and herb potions and stuff, but I'm just playing. I see people like you who really have power. And I know I'm not like that."

"How did the other students learn about Kedama-otome ?"

"Maybe someone saw me draw her. I doodle her all the time, it's like something I do instead of pulling my hair. It's my own ritual. And I don't even actually call her Kedama-otome. I don't know who came up with that."

"What else can you tell me about her ?"

"The way I imagine her, she's invisible, and she sucks the hair out then catches it with her tongue. The way I do with my hair. But she was never meant to hurt anyone else. I'm so, so sorry."

"She shouldn't be hurting you, either."

The scent of the camellia tree was thick in the air. It was only march, but the tree was already adorned with red rosacea of enlaced petals. There was something magical about this tree that unveiled its beauty in the middle of winter, painting the white sky of specks of red and pink.

"I knew I had seen you before, I hadn't imagined it was right here."

Branches bristled around the trunk. Then a white hand ghostly spawned out of the centre of the wood, followed by the reedy figure of a teenage girl.

"Furutsubaki no Kei. Spirit of the camellia tree. Beautiful."

The body of the girl who was calling herself Fuyumi finally detached itself completely from the trunk, and she gauged the man through her blood-coloured eyes.

"Kurama. I knew it was a risk showing myself to a master of plants. Maybe I wanted to see how long it would take for you to understand."

"Why the comedy ? You've never been to Makai. You have always been there. You grew from that tree."

"My territory was being invaded. There was nothing I could do bound to the ground. So I created this human replica of myself, and I pretended to enrol in this school."

"Why not just tell the truth ? We would have helped you anyway."

"When invaders come to your home, you don't plant your roots on the ground. You pretend to be an invader as well and you take back what was already yours."

"We haven't invaded anything."

"No ? You, and all the other demons who come from Makai, take our land, and call it peace. And we, the youkai who have lived in Ningenkai all along, have no choice but to join you and hope to gain the right to remain in our own land."

"This world belongs to humans."

"They spawn from their kin like birds in a nest. I grew from the very soil of this earth."

"We're not going to help you drive away other youkai."

"But you will help me save these humans. Our goals converge. I tolerate them walking on my land like ants on a trunk, but I will not accept a parasite eating away at my soil. I am no danger to humans. Unlike whatever has come to trouble me."

The door of the building opened on Yuusuke who walked across the deserted courtyard.

"Fuyumi ? What…"

"She's not Fuyumi. She's a Furutsubaki no Kei. A spirit born of this ancient tree who took human form. She was trying to defend her territory by telling us of the creature."

"Yeah, that's going to be a problem. The Kedama-otome is not real. Erina invented her, then some other students picked up on it and it became a legend in the school. Meaning we have no idea what's really attacking the students. And we can't trust them to actually stop with the rituals."

"Maybe we do not know what it is…"

Fuyumi brandished a hand with nails sharp as razors. Then she clutched a lock of her hair.

"… But we can know where it will go next."

"Do I really have to…"

"Yeah. Sorry. You told us the ritual is supposed to be four people. It would be a giveaway if Fuyumi was part of it when it's her hair we're gonna use. You have to help us, Erina. We need to do this last ritual. And then I promise you'll never hear of Kedama-otome again."

"I understand. I'll do it. For Chie."

"Thank you. So, walk us through it. What's this ritual like ?"

"Every group kinda made their own. I think we need to invoke Kedama-otome, offer her the hair, then blow the candles."

"Okay, seems simple enough. I'll do it, if that's okay by you guys."

"Uh-huh."

"Knock yourself out."

"Here we go. Kedama-otome, Kedama-otome, you're ugly as a fuck's ass…"

"Yuusuke, teenager present."

"I don't mind."

"She doesn't mind. Kedama-otome, I don't know why you're so into hair, that's literally the least edible part of the human body. Not that I would know about that. Again, not a people-eater. Kurama ?"

"Let's not go there."

"Okay, so it's common wisdom that hair is better on someone's head. But for the sake of argument, let's assume I'd want to eat hair. Then I'd definitely want this one. That's some first-grade hair right here."

He placed the lock on the centre of their circle. Even the feeling of Fuyumi's hair reminded him of the touch of a leaf.

"So uh… knock yourself out. Dinner is served. Or whatever. Urameshi out."

"Beautiful."

"Thank you, thank you."

"Okay now we have to blow the candles."

"Done."

"And now ?"

"You go home to your dad. We wait."

At night, seen from the ground, the camellia tree was even more impressive. The multiple branches of its trunk twisted on themselves before reaching up, like a deformed hand opened on the sky. The ground under the foliage was completely obscured from the light of the moon. The three men were waiting, immobile, under the tree, scanning the leaves. Yuusuke didn't know how long they had been out there. None of them talked. Until Kuwabara broke the silence.

"It's here."

They raised their head. Without a sound, a leaf detach itself from the foliage. Slowly, the leaf floated down until suddenly, it disappeared mid-air. Another leaf fell. And disappeared. Followed by another one.

"Does anyone see it ?"

"I feel its presence all around, but I'm hindered by the aura of the tree."

The leaves were disappearing much faster now.

"I'm gonna have to hit blind. If it finishes up eating the leaves before we get it, we lose our chance !"

"Yuusuke, wait ! You can't risk hurting the tree !"

"Then give me a general direction !"

"Hold on… What we need is to know exactly where to wait for it. We need to orientate the branches."

Kurama's hands started describing a circle. Soon, a strong wind came bending the leaves upward, until they were all grouped in a single space. Another leaf fell.

"Now, Yuusuke !"

The shot that came right for it never hit the trunk. Before it could touch it, something else came to intercept the hit, something invisible that landed against the trunk in a violent thump and materialized. Then it was over.

The men approached the creature. It was stringy, had long hair and an immense mouth ornate with teeth. Then its contours blended, took the form of a teenager wearing the school uniform. Then its face slowly vanished until its head was nothing but a smooth, blank circle of skin. Kurama kneeled down near the creature.

"A bakemono. A shapeshifter."

"Well, that's…"

"Yeah."

"Two youkais. One from our world, the other from Makai, who had both taken the appearance of students to fight for territory."

"According to my friend, this kind of bakemono is highly suggestible. It will take the appearance of whatever it comes in contact with. First, that was a student. Then, it came across the Kedama-otome story and it… became the Kedama-otome. Bound by the legend the students had created."

Takenaka got up and reached for the teapot. He served them both abundantly.

"Urameshi, there is so much of what you're saying that I don't understand. And I don't know how much comes from how bizarre the world has become, and how much from the simple fact that I am old, and I can hardly handle any kind of change."

"You're being hard with yourself. You did the right thing here. You tried to be open to youkais, you came for help when you needed to, and you barely freaked out the whole time."

"That wasn't out of understanding, but out of recognizing my own incomprehension. I told you, one of the most undervalued skills in this world is knowing when you've reached your limits. When you're not the right person for the job. Then you just have to find someone who is."

"That reminds me of something someone I knew said once."

"Was it the person who was the right one to reach out to you back then ?"

"Yeah."

As Yuusuke was about to cross the school gate one last time, a slim white figure came to block his view.

"Will you be going back, then ? To where you belong ?"

"Change of plan. I don't care where I belong anymore. I'm just going where I want to be."

"Urameshi Yuusuke. A tree without roots, with branches growing in every direction. I fear for this world you've created. "

"You mean you fear for _your_ world."

"Of course. Pretend as they may, no one really cares for what is out of their world. Your world just happens to be larger than mine."

"Tell me something. You risked your life to help us kill that bakemono. But it wasn't threatening you. So why ?"

"I love this school, Urameshi. I love this courtyard, I love the sunlight nourishing me in the afternoon, and the water soaking me when it rains. I love hearing the children run around and laugh, I love when they come under my branches to read and play between themselves. I love those fragments of life that get caught in my foliage like nutrients in the grassy soil. This is my world. I will never let anything destroy it."

"Same for me. I won't let you or anybody else threaten my world."

"Then one day you and I may have this chat under much less fortunate auspices. Until then, Urameshi Yuusuke, I wish you good luck in protecting your world. If you can ever find out what it is."

In a rustle, she was gone.

The heavy mechanical door opened on the busying toddler.

"Koenma. Do you remember what you asked me last time ?

""Stop barging into my office without an appointment" ?"

"You asked me if I wanted to participate in building this new world. I said no."

"And I accepted it. You've done more than your share, Yuusuke. The least I can do for you is let you live your life as you so choose."

"I changed my mind. I want in."

"May I ask the reason of this turn-around ?"

"World's a fucking mess. We have work to do."

"That's… a nice surprise but…"

"Let me make one thing clear. I'm not going to sit around tables and figure how this is all going to work. I'm not going to be a leader of anything."

"Then what are you going to be ?"

"A detective."

"Hey there. There's some curry on the bar."

He sat in front of her. It was a moment before she actually raised her head to look at him.

"I'm not going to leave again, you know."

"Right, right."

"No, I need you to hear me. I'm not. Going to leave. Again."

She detailed his face, trying to detect any falsity.

"Okay." She finally said, softly.

"Will you marry me ?"

She smiled. Then reached his hand with hers.

"One day."

* * *

NEXT ARC : Shock Values

A late phone call throws Yuusuke in the middle of a political crisis. Between old enemies and new threats, can he navigate a tense situation while remaining faithful to his principles ?


	4. Shock values : part one

Chapter four : Shock Values

Part one

_And we're back ! In this new arc, a late phone call throws Yuusuke in the middle of a political crisis._

_Answer to guest review : Thank you for your compliments ! I do have a tendency to rely only on verbal cues rather than background. I kept your remark in mind while writing the rest._

_Enjoy ! And please, leave a review !_

* * *

_All this. For this._

All this plotting and backbreaking labour. All this backstabbing and privations. To hoist oneself onto the pinnacle of the world only to find the world you knew shift and disappear beneath your feet. There was an allegory for the harsh mistress that was glory if there even had been one. And now ? Back on the ground, with the rest of them. Better for them, maybe. Better for him ? He smiled. Trying to decide what you wanted was so much more fun when you weren't sure if you could get it.

He reached for the liquor cabinet. Humans did at least that right. Who knew how much he'd wish he had drunk more when it would all start tomorrow. He had thought it would be easy. Now, after briefly meeting them, he wasn't so sure. Facing a giant, puny insects would always find a way to worm their way under its skin. Another life lesson for the greats of the world.

The door to the adjoining suite opened. A smaller version of himself appeared on the doorstep. The boy was troubled. Something was wrong.

"Yes ? What is it ?"

"Dad… I think I did something bad."

**~ 9:47 PM ~**

_Ring. Rrrrring._

Rrrm. Phone. Where was that damn phone ? Fumbling in the dark, he finally managed to grab the receiver and mumbled a "what". Only silence welcomed him at the other end of the line. Then what the fuck was still ringing ?

He turned on the lamp on the nightstand and followed the sound. Which seemed to come from deep within his storage closet. Pushing blindly between months-worth of unsorted clothing, he got a hold of a handle. Which came out of the closet followed by a briefcase. Yuusuke stared at the ringing suitcase as if to convince himself it was real. Then, he settled it on the bed and opened it. Inside was a large screen currently being occupied by a tiny toddler.

"_Yuusuke ! Remember when you walked into my office, told me you wanted to be a detective again and then I haven't heard from you in a month ?"_

"Huh ?"

"_Get your ass on the very first train to Tokyo. Or better yet, run the whole way here. Go up to the Mandarin Oriental hotel as discreetly as you can. I need your help."_

**11:16 PM **

He had never been to Tokyo. This was corny, but he always had this idea of first going there for his honeymoon. Shibuya. The Skytree. Rolling his eyes as Keiko was dragging him through Ginza and making him carry her purchases. Of course it was Keiko. It had never not been Keiko. But what that meant for the time being, was that he had no idea what qualified as a normal Tokyo ruckus. He had to believe this wasn't one.

The night was cut with camera flashes like a surgeon's laser through flesh. Under the neon-coloured rain, hundreds of moving trench coats and umbrellas clogged the pavement. The hazy pouring gave it all a feel of unreality, the way a movie looked if you blinked very fast while watching it. The rhythmic noise of the windshield wipers of the cars lined up on the concrete, the moving reflections of the light on the pavement, everything hit him at once, and for a moment he just stood there, unable to process this deluge of information.

Then he briefly closed his eyes, and the world settled back in place. He pulled down the hood of his drenched sweatshirt and made his way to the foot of the Nihonbashi Mitsui tower. From down there, it seemed to run its mirrored walls from earth to sky.

Armed military-type guys were surrounding the entrance. There was no way he could get in through the main gate without attracting the attention of the crowd that seemed to intently wait for anyone to step in to strafe them with their flashes. Eyeing the tallest building adjoining the tower – which still barely reached out to its tenth floor – he swiftly jumped on its roof then, walking back to gain momentum, projected himself onto the higher tower. He landed on the edge on an unlit window and, after checking there was no one in the room inside, broke in and strolled the hallway in search of an elevator, which took him a good five minutes of walking around the luxurious hallways – why did rich people like beige so much ? The hotel occupied the top nine floors of the tower, Koenma had told him. He pressed the highest available button inside the copper-platted elevator. When the doors opened with a melodious ding, he found himself nose to nose with another guard dog, this one considerably more packed than the ones at the foot of the tower.

"Hotel's closed to the public, sir."

"Okay, one, call me sir again and I'll make you swallow your submachine gun. Two, his royal binky is expecting me."

"I am sorry to insist that you go back downstairs, sir."

"Look, people often try to get me not to go where I want to go. Usually does not end up well for them."

"The entire hotel has been reserved for the event. There is no available room."

"I'm gonna make space then. What room are you occupying ?"

"Or, you could just give the guard your name, seeing as that's obviously what I communicated him."

He hadn't seen Koenma approach on his right. The armed mountain straightened up as the human version of the toddler walked up to Yuusuke.

"Took you long enough."

"Had to look up directions at the station. It's not like there's a device that would give me directions to whenever I want to go at any given time."

"Less elucubrating, more walking. Come with me."

They walked around the entrance lounge with its illuminated waterfall pouring uselessly behind the black wood desk that costed probably more than a year of his rent, and made their way to yet another glass door that seemed to end on some sort of lobby.

"I hope you've got a good reason to drag me out here in the middle of the night."

"I called you at nine thirty."

"When I do a night shift at the stand, I take a nap beforehand. You have no idea how many people suddenly want ramen at two AM."

"Good, then you'll be well rested." Koenma said as he pushed the doors.

"Again, and sorry if you've heard this one, but what is this abou…"

They were everywhere. In the room traversed by an inexplicable chill, dislocated puppets spread on the floor, above the stairway's ramp, on the sand-coloured sofas, tainting them with red. Most weren't all there. For some, it was hard to believe they'd even been together at all, forming some sort of cohesive whole. How many were there ? Forty ? Fifty ? Hard to tell. Some were pouring on each other, like melted ice-cream. Some had fallen on the spot. Others had been dragged by various parts across the room, in a sharp smear of red paint. A few had come crashing against the panoramic windows, and were now forming a curled up mess under them.

"Who…"

"That's what you're here to find out."

Yuusuke slowly walked around the room, leaving Koenma behind. He was taking in whatever was remaining of those faces.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence but… between you and me, you know I've never been a detective-detective, right ? I fight stuff. This is an actual crime scene. Shouldn't some actual detectives be here ?"

"Trust me, if I had any other choice, you wouldn't be here. But unfortunately for both of us, that's where we are."

Yuusuke kneeled down near one of the corpses. Head had been ripped off. No… bitten off.

"A youkai did this." He mused.

"Or someone worked really hard to make it look like it."

"Are you finally gonna tell me what's going on ?"

The prince exhaled loudly. Yuusuke noticed the circles around his eyes. That was the first time in a long time he'd seen him so beaten up.

"You don't read the news much, do you ?"

Koenma sat down on one of the sofas that had been miraculously spared from the carnage.

"Tomorrow at seven starts the first round in a series of negotiations between humans and youkais on everything from passage between Makai and the Human world, to integration, to even trade opportunities. Ambassadors from the UN and the Makai presidency respectively will be kicking off the discussions tomorrow in this very hotel. The goal is to reach some level of harmonizing between all the individual measures that have been taken by Makai and human countries in order to adopt a global sense of direction. If this goes well, we could be seeing official passageways to Makai hatch all around the globe in two to three years. I've been designated to act as a mediator between the two parties."

"I'm guessing this little sideshow right here wasn't part of the plan."

"After the ambassadors arrived at seven pm, the hotel went on lockdown. Military surveillance as well as barrier spells. As far as we can tell, no one went in or out. A security round at nine found nothing suspicious. A little after that, one of the ambassadors discovered… this. In the entire hotel. The only people who weren't killed were myself, and the four ambassadors."

"What about my friend Fido back there ?"

"All the guards who survived were positioned in the lower stairs. We had to make a few of them come up here to keep assuring security."

"Are you certain no one could have slipped out ? I mean, I think I could have done it pretty easily."

"If it had only been the security we'd installed, I would have agreed with you. But we have someone else here whose word bears a lot more weight."

"Urameshi."

He pivoted. It had been a while since he'd seen him last. In fact, he could remember the exact moment. He was on the stage, announcing the winner of the Makai tournament.

"Yomi ! You're the ambassador from Makai ?"

"It is a pleasure to meet you again. Your face has healed, I can tell."

"After the beating you submitted me to last time, I was the first surprised."

"It seems we were destined to converse atop a pile of human corpses eventually. It was only a little later than I expected."

"I wouldn't have thought you'd agree to do something like this. Aren't humans just food ?"

"The wind had changed, Urameshi. For now, Enki's word is law. After that… we will see."

"So you're saying no one came in or out of the hotel to take a bite out of the staff ?"

"Yes. I sensed no change in the energies that surrounded those floors from seven until you came in here."

"Yomi was the one who found them." Koenma added.

"I was in my suite with Shura. The smell of blood became overwhelming."

"Shura ? He's here ? Is it take your son to work day ?"

"He begged me to come. He wanted to see the human world."

"Okay, one last thing, and sorry if I'm being blunt, but you're kind of a lying son of a bitch. How can we trust you're telling the truth ?"

"That's the thing, Yuusuke." Koenma cut in. "In this particular case, it wouldn't make sense not to trust him."

"What do you mean ?"

"Think. You said it yourself, these attacks look like the work of a youkai. At the moment they happened, Yomi and his son were the only youkais in the entire hotel. Tomorrow kicks off a wildly-publicized negotiation that might determine how the world perceives youkais in the foreseeable future. If there's the slightest hitch, it will throw a wrench in the relations between the two worlds for perhaps decades. Imagine what will happen if in ten hours, journalists and officials from the whole wide world open the doors of this hotel… to this."

"So you think this is a setup ?"

"The UN ambassadors were the only humans left untouched. We have multiples people confirming that no one came in or out of the hotel. And now we have two youkais supposed to represent their entire race, and seventy-four humans murdered."

"That's why you said you believed Yomi… He had no interest in insisting nobody came in or out."

"I see no point in lying. If someone is trying to sabotage this meetup, it is better to nip it in the bud."

"Now you understand why I can't involve anyone else, Yuusuke. As sad as it is, this isn't just a crime scene. This is also a symbol. If we do not shine a light on what really happened here tonight, what we see right now will be but a fraction of the disaster to come. We need answers, we need proof, and we need them by tomorrow morning. Your word carries weight in both worlds. Humans, the ones who matter, know what you did for Earth, just like demons know what you did for Makai. They'll listen to you."

"And if I can't find who's responsible ?"

Koenma and Yomi remained silent.

"Geez, I get it. It's gonna be a long night."

**~ 11:31 PM ~**

"Don't trust Yomi."

Koenma and Yuusuke were walking down another luxurious hallway of warm-toned wood and ceiling-high windows.

"I thought it didn't make sense not to trust him ? Also, you realize he can probably hear you, right ? Guy's got like three pairs of ears."

"I'm smart enough not to trust him anyway. And he's too smart not to know I don't trust him."

"So you think he did kill all those people ? He'd sabotage his own negotiations ?"

"You said it yourself, he's a lying son of a bitch. If this gets out, the entire power dynamic in Makai might get turned upside down. Enki has made peace with Earth the mantra of his reign. But Yomi and Mukuro remain the two major military forces in Makai. If war breaks out, Yomi will be in the forefront of his world again."

"So if that's what you think, why am I here ?"

"I don't know for sure. Some things do not fit. Why not kill the ambassadors too ? And why remain here if you're going to make yourself look like the main suspect ? And most importantly, why make yourself the culprit when you could use a pawn ? That places him in the difficult position of being the one responsible for conflict breaking out. The other youkais might not follow him after that. I need to see more clearly. That's where you come in. You can help me look for alternative explanations, while also buying us some time to figure out a plan B."

Yuusuke caught the prince by the arm.

"Okay, stop. Koenma, I told you I wanted nothing to do with all this political stuff !"

"You also told me you wanted to help. This is how you can help."

"This requires being subtle and diplomatic and a bunch of other things I probably suck at. What if I do more harm than good ?"

"You underestimate yourself. No one knows both the human and the demon mind like you do. And like I said, I was out of options."

"Fine, I get it. So, what's the plan ?"

"The UN ambassadors want to meet you. Getting them to agree to call you wasn't an easy sell. They only know you as a youkai. You have to convince them you're on their side."

"I'm not on anyone's side."

"Then find out what happened here, or you'll have to pick one very soon."

Koenma pushed another door. How on earth could he tell all these identical doors apart ?

"Yuusuke, meet Amelia Bancroft and Rohan Singh, the negotiators for the UN."

He saw her first. It was hard to miss her. Model-tall and thin, with wavy Venetian blond hair flowing freely to her waist, a healthy Californian tan and a long balloon-sleeved white evening dress slightly pooling at her feet, she looked like what you'd get if you asked any random fourteen years old boy off the street to imagine the next cover of Vogue. This was the kind of woman to whom men said "you have bewitched me" when really, she was just obviously really hot, in that conventional way that landed straight between a man's fantasy and a women's inspiration. In either case, not a real person. The only hint that she hadn't indeed been made on purpose in some kind of lab was an impressive set of freckles that covered her nose and cheekbones, like residues of an eraser over a perfect drawing.

As for him, he looked like her clone from bizarroworld. Only as tall as Yuusuke, but considerably older, he would have bet there was some article out there describing him as having "an air of quiet dignity". He was dressed entirely in black, with a formal Mao jacket complete with a white pocket square. The only other speck of white on his person was his elegant moustache and gelled to the side hair. He actually looked the part of a lifelong diplomat, in that same kind of too-obvious-for-the-role way that she did a lifestyle model. If there was a lesson there, it was that most people looked exactly like you'd think they would. Or maybe the job was turning them into what others thought of them.

"So here is the man of the hour ! His highness Enma speaks very highly of you."

Of course, she spoke flawless Japanese.

"He's twenty inches tall. He speaks very highly of everyone."

"Do you speak English, son ?"

And he called everyone son. Just perfect.

"Not really. But if you want I can nod really hard when you talk so it looks like I get it."

"You're funny. Rohan, he's very funny."

"Um. Do you find what happened here tonight very funny, son ?"

"Of course he doesn't. Yuusuke is here to help."

"Don't answer for me, Koenma. That's the best you can do, I-already-forgot-your-name ? On a scale of one to ten, how funny do I find human murder ?"

"I see nothing to convince me that such a test is not necessary."

"My fist on your face is starting to feel very necessary."

"Oh, stop, both of you if you please."

Her tone was tentative in the same way a mom's with her four years old was. Only giving you the illusion of a choice.

"We are already on a deadline here. So maybe we should let dear Yuusuke get to work, no ?"

'Dear Yuusuke' would have gladly continued his little explanation with Moustache, but she was right. The longer he dawdled, the longer it would be before he could get out of there.

"What can you tell me about what happened ?"

They briefly exchanged in English. They weren't shy about excluding him from the conversation.

"Very little, unfortunately" she finally said. "The last time we saw another human soul was when we were brought room service in my suite. It must have been fifteen minutes later that Enma ran into the room to make sure we were unharmed. We did not hear anything go down. Which is curious, such a massacre, you would think it would have made quite a peep."

He couldn't be sure, but she seemed to speak with a slight British accent.

"Did you… see the remains ?"

"We did. I assisted on quite a few UN peacekeeping missions. I've never… seen anything like this."

"In your opinion, son, could a human have done this ?"

"Oh ! Deadline !" the woman exclaimed as if she'd just shocked herself by putting her finger in a socket.

He turned to her with a quizzical expression on his face.

"Deadline ! And there are all these dead people around ! This was so insensitive of me to say that !"

"Err… To answer your question" Yuusuke said after electing to ignore the remark, "it does look like the work of a youkai. But at this stage, nothing is certain."

"We're going to have to do much better than that. We are under the unblinking eye. What looks like it happened is what did. We should stop wasting time. And son ?"

"What ?"

"The world is counting on you."

**~ 11:46 PM ~**

"So that's the situation. I checked every floor, didn't feel any kind of energy anywhere. Nothing left on the corpses either. I've got no idea what to do next. And everyone is twiddling their thumbs waiting for me to miraculously solve everything."

Kurama's chuckle was warm on the other side of the line. Yuusuke would never understand anything to his sense of humour.

"_So you've called me to solve another one of your cases in your place ?"_

"That happened once. And sorry if I'm calling one of my friends for help."

"_Don't get upset, I was joking. In my opinion, there aren't that many possibilities. Either the culprit is still in the hotel, or he isn't. If he is, there is an unneglectable chance that it might be Yomi. If he isn't, it means Yomi lied. Either way, I'd say you should talk to Yomi again. One to one. He respects you. And perhaps more importantly, he doesn't understand you. Someone like you, who has power but doesn't want domination, is something that is profoundly foreign to him. Which renders you quite unpredictable."_

"Why do I feel this is just an elaborate way of saying he can't outsmart me because I don't actually think ?"

"_Whatever you feel comfortable with. Keep me updated."_ Click.

There was something comforting in knowing he wasn't the only one whose night had been ruined. He put back the receiver from the lobby desk, then asked his new best friend Fido the guard for directions to Yomi's suite. When he entered, Yomi was facing the panoramic window, a drink in hand.

"There are not that many times I regret having had the light stolen from me, but this is one."

"If that makes you feel better, the view's not that impressive. It's mostly squares of light on squares of black on a bigger square of black."

"You are lying, aren't you ?"

"Yeah. It's fucking gorgeous."

"From my point of view, this is just an ocean of invisible waves. Sound, heat, movement, all slowly coming and receding from me in an unending tide of boiling life."

"Where's Shura ?"

"Confined in his room. This is the first time he comes in contact with the smell of human blood. It is disturbing for him. I think we should try to avoid any further incident."

"Yomi, you need to tell me you did not do this."

The former king turned to face the man who had refused to be king.

"And what would telling you I did not actually accomplish ? If I was culpable, I would have no reason to tell the truth, and even if I was innocent, you would still be a fool to believe me."

"I'm a fool anyway. Koenma and Kurama suspect you because it's rational to. But I'd rather trust what my gut tells me. And my gut tells me you didn't bring your fucking son to this damn meeting so he could watch you fuck it up on purpose."

"You would trust me over your friends ?"

"I'd trust myself."

He could almost see Yomi's exquisite mind at work.

"Let's say I did kill them. What would you do now ?"

"I'd wonder why you're lying."

His gaze shifted to the door leading to the adjoining suite.

"And I think I just figured it out."

Yomi's aura had changed.

"Careful, Urameshi."

"This isn't the answer. We can figure it out."

"I told you. I killed them. Go report to them."

"For someone so smart, you can be a terrible liar."

He had started walking toward Shura's door.

"Urameshi !"

The image of someone so powerful, feeling powerless. There was nothing scarier. The doorknob clicked.

The young prince was sitting on his bed, holding his knees. His face was still drenched in blood.


End file.
